Although they don’t make it to the A’s so regularly, the Slavist hotbed of talent has already sent a number of interesting players to the league in recent years. And after the B side’s solid autumn in the second division, combined with the U19s’ historic progress in the UEFA Youth League, more are sure to follow. “It may happen that five to six players will go to league teams,” coach Jaroslav Machač said in London. Who is the most talked about? There was great interest in the league, for example, in Tomáš Jelínek.
Slavist youngsters are usually in demand throughout the league, either on loan or on transfer. Just look at the summer transfer window. Out went Ondřej Kričfaluši, David Planka (Baník), Divine Teah, Mikuláš Konečný (Pardubice), Albert Labík (Karviná), Eric Hunal, Matěj Žitný (Dukla), or Matěj Zachoval and Josef Kolařík (Mladá Boleslav). Literally a volley of players.
But it bears reminding what they will be up against in Eden in 2026. Changes in the football environment mean that clubs no longer have to “help” each other by developing talent from elsewhere. They want immediate quality, albeit expensive. In addition, there are six clubs in a real fight for survival, even they usually turn to experience in the winter. In short and simply, it will be more difficult than before to find a major league club for a mature youth.
In addition, coach Machač may have exaggerated the number a little and of course he was talking more about the players of the B team who helped out in the UEFA Youth League. But the most inexperienced player is a player who has not played for the U19 for a year and a half. Midfielder Tomáš Jelínek has been excelling in the second league B team for so long that even Jindřich Trpišovský took him to the A team for a few matches. The player is in his early twenties, this is the perfect time for him to establish himself in the league.
This article is part of the PREMIUM package.
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